My garden has slipped way down the list of priorities this year and I don’t have many flowers growing at the moment. Yesterday was the first day for ages that circumstances aligned for me to be able to spend the whole day tackling the jungle it has become. As I cut back, slashed and weeded, I saved the few flowers I found and plonked them in jam jars hoping to be able to make up a vase for today ….

I looked at this sorry collection and realised something was needed for added value.

So I lay one of my paintings-in-progress on the floor and then I drifted off into a very happy place playing with petals and leaves

Click on the photos if you would like to see them larger.

The centre is the beginning of a crochet mandala in cotton called ‘Sol’ by

The words are a quote I have adapted from the book ‘Conversations With God’ Book 2 by Neale Donald Walsch, the quote is “a woman hears the melody of flowers in the wind”, but I wanted to change it so that everyone could relate to it.

Little Miss M (5) was here a few days ago, she loves to have music playing – her favourite at the moment is ‘500 miles’ by the Proclaimers, she says she wants to walk 500 miles with me – now there’s an ambition! We were both dancing to the song and she looked out at the wind blowing through the plants in the garden and said,

Thank you Sheila for your encouragement to do something with these pieces – it would be fun to create something more permanent with them. I find it hard to know which is the best way to go and suggestions are always really helpful and spur me on.

It has got as far as the ‘thought about’ stage – then I’d have to sell them – that’s the bit I’m not so keen on pursuing, but your encouragement is helping me to think about pushing past the resistance.

Looking the other way (such a good way to put it) does seem to happen rather a lot around here at the moment and all manner of chaos manifests in house and garden.
It is so good to know you find the mandala calming, Alison, it was calming to make and I’m thinking the photo might be calming to have up on the wall.

You are so creative with that mandala and vases…my garden is a jungle these days and neglected but still lots of flowers if I would pick more….love the ambition of walking 500 miles….and before you know it you will have walked those 500 miles….I love that song too!

Thank you, I always feel welcome. Sometimes I feel like a bit of an interloper amongst REAL gardeners but I do love my garden even if it is a mess and I love to see what everyone else is doing in theirs.

My gosh, my gosh! I hardly know what to say about your fabulous arrangements except that I absolutely love them. Wowsah, as we would say in Maine. Also like the song “500 miles.” Keep walking! Yes, add up the miles. No matter how far you go, it will be fun to keep track of the miles.

Your wonderful comment has given me such a boost today Laurie. You are right, it will be fun to keep track of the miles.
Sometimes it surprises me to see what has been created and I wonder how it happened and who did it – it works best when I don’t have much of a plan at the start and ‘get out of my own way’ – is it like with writing? Mandalas often seem to take on a life of their own – there are other forces at work/play!

I think a lot of creativity works that way. For me, with writing, I have an overall arc of where I want the story to go, but I have no idea how I’m going to get there. This always fills me with anxiety, but I have learned that if I have faith in myself, the words and the story will flow. Getting out of the way is a good description.

Start journaling those miles, what a keepsake it will be! I love the flowers added to you Mandela, but the background was calling to me, it was so beautiful. You are painting that? Is it watercolor or something else? The colors are !!!!

What a great idea to journal about my 500 miles with Little Miss M – thank you for that Kathy.
The painting is acrylic on canvas and has proved to be a great background for photographing all sorts of things – I may never finish it!

It came to me, because I’m hoping to get Girl#2 to send me a picture every day while she is in Italy, then I print it out for her. I can just see you and Miss M laughing and reading through your 500 mile journal when she graduates high school or gets married!

Thank you Lisa – of course I have to agree with you about the Grands! 🙂
So glad you found the mandala enchanting, cos I think I do too- it was a bit of a surprise to me when I saw how it came out after such an unpromising start.

The Mandala is lovely in so many ways–beautiful way to meditate. Priorities have changed for me also this year and tending the garden has not been as important. I should follow your lead though to begin tackling and taming it again.

‘The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”! I think we will start adding up the miles we walk together now and see if I live long enough to complete the 500! I have images of my holding onto her arm in my 80s determined to get the last miles in.